Legend
In 1991, a very young 17-year-old artist, Valery Shatunov (born in 1975), began work on the first illustrations that were created and finalized for over 25 years. The idea was invented by him in 1991-1999 together with his father, the world-famous illustrator of the children's book Viktor Shatunov. During the illustrations drawing process artist had no idea about final result or exact image that should be in final version. However, all the elements eventually were combined into one beautiful image.
Today the collection of these illustrations does not exceed 14 works. The creation of each illustration took from two to five months of intensive work. In 2000, after 9 years since the beginning of the project, work on the book was temporarily discontinued due to the loss of a larger part of the illustrations.
Only in early 2015, the artist returned to the work that began earlier as illustrations and sketches were accidentally found among a large archive of sketches and other works of the artist. Around the same time the artist found a solution for illustrations to be illuminated at night in total darkness. Also new technologies for drawing have been found. In 2015, a completely new idea came up to add to the already existing images a new hidden and invisible at daytime images, which are painted with UV and phosphorescent paints - invisible during daytime and glowing at night. They also provide the paintings with uniqueness and the ability to view pictures in total darkness or with the help of a special Black Light flashlight.
And since Valery studied the possibilities of production in different fields for more than 20 years and is familiar with all the possibilities he fully developed the production process. Now the artist has turned 42 years old. Since from the beginning of creation of the first illustration took more than 25 years this is the most unusual and most welcome project in his life. Valery is trying to fix his work as Guinness Record and the Record of Lithuania - the world's first 3 pictures with 3-4 images inside are already fixed as a record.
The entry in the book of Records of Lithuania is done in 2016-05-09 as "The greatest number of images in one picture" - the viewer of the paintings is asked to turn the picture upside down to see new and different images at day and night in total darkness.
From the author of the project
As the author of this project Valery Shatunov, I probably have gained the most important character traits. Even if all your life turned upside down it's not necessary to throw away everything, it is worth looking for new opportunities and continue life and work and no matter what, go towards your intended goal. Life has turned my plans upside down many times but I am still looking for way outs and I always find solutions while at the same time adapting the information received earlier without being afraid of sudden changes in my life. And the main goal - to find a positive in any situation, build a new development plan for yourself and your inner world, bearing the beauty and kindness to others. Our world is boundless for new ideas and imaginations. I consider these works as one of my victories. I would be happy to bring this to other people with the help of my paintings and illustrations.
To create this book, I deliberately unite famous people from around the world. Their participation in the book will be like the authors of texts. One of my main goals in this project - not only the unification of people but also their involvement in the problem and raising money for children with oncological diseases around the world. For this purpose, me and my company donate funds to charitable organizations and foundations working in this direction. We are going to continue development and implementation of new similar global projects, which we plan to carry out all over the world and beyond!
